Mick and Mairead Philpott await sentencing over the deaths of their six children

Mrs Justice Thirlwall with Mick and Mairead Philpott and Paul Mosley at Nottingham Crown Court Credit: Priscilla Coleman

The sentencing of Mick and Mairead Philpott, who killed their six children in a house fire, has been adjourned until 10.30am on Thursday at Nottingham Crown Court.

Mrs Justice Thirlwall adjourned the case because she wanted more time to consider sentences of the pair and their friend Paul Mosley.

She said she had listened with care during the whole trial and added: "I want to reflect further before moving forward to the sentencing exercise."

ITV News Midlands Correspondent Rupert Evelyn reports:

Mairead Philpott's defence says that she "will forever be known as a child killer" and "when she is released she will have little or no support network".

They say that her real sentence is that she "will never again" see the children that she gave birth to.

Former friends and neighbours have been speaking in the media about their reaction to the couples actions.

Mick and Sharon Russell, who were friends with the Philpotts, told ITV's This Morning that Mick Philpott's behaviour in the hospital was "very strange" for a grieving father.

Mr Russell said: "I looked round and he was grabbing this girl's bum and saying 'this is what I like'. I was thinking, you've just lost six kids Mick, what are you doing."

Ann Widdecombe said that when she saw Mick Philpott crying during a press conference after his six children died in a house fire she thought "it wasn't Lisa, it was probably you".

The former MP appeared with the couple on an ITV documentary, trying to get Mick Philpott a job.

The defence says there was "no deliberate intention" to kill the children and ultimately this was "an act against property".

The Judge says if the plan had been successful the children would have woken-up in the beds with their house on fire.

The defence says that Mick Philpott will have to live with the "hostility of the press and the public" for the rest of his life.

The defence is arguing that Philpott has never been able to grieve and his bizarre behaviour is down to him suffering with "extreme grief".

It also emerged that Mick Philpott was on bail over an incident of road rage when the fire was started.